There is a question here somewhere, most likely near the end, but first some background:

Last Saturday I took my son & two of the grand kids 60 miles down the road to the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum for their [url=http://www.ohtm.org/*50s60s.html] “Fabulous’ 50s Sensational’ 60sâ€￾[/url] car show, which was over flown all day by a bunch of WWI and older air craft including a Snoopy & Red Barron dog fight, additionally there were Model T Ford rides, a live band, and craft projects for the kids.

On the way to the show, about 15 miles into the trip a faint ticking started. Over the droning exhaust note, it sounded like a single tappet. Kept driving an additional twenty miles or so and it became progressively louder, to the point of being able to hear a strong tic-tic off of guard rails while driving past them. Car was running smoothly, no missing.

At this point I was thinking of turning back, but 5 & 6 year olds don’t cope with aborted missions very well. The only tools I had on hand were a “AAA Auto Clubâ€￾ card & cell phone…hey, it’s my usual tool kit, so we motored on.

At fifty miles, nearing our destination, outside temperatures warming, the Floridians wanted the top down. Oddly these kids had never seen crank windows and could not resist cranking them up & down up & down…, and also could not grasp there was no air conditioning, or steady comfortable interior temperature to be had with the windows up… So I pulled into a convince store parking lot to drop the top, and shut her down to use the key to open the trunk to retrieve the top boot cover.

When I restarted the car after a few minutes rest, no more ticking, all back to normal. We drove the last few miles to the show, still no ticking, than drove all the way home, not one stinking tick could be heard.

It was not until Wednesday that I was able to pull the valve cover off for a look-see, and it was killing me not to be able to get under the hood sooner due to family doings if you get my drift… I re-checked the lash cold & not running, and all were within a thousandth of each other… Close enough, as I had just re gapped the lash a few weeks ago. Under close examination with a good light, number 4 intake rocker arm looked as if it had been hot at some point showing a dark build-up along the top oil way, and around the pivot point. All the other rockers were clean, free of any dark areas.

The oil (10-30 ) & filter (1806) was changed about a thousand miles ago, and is a “not too opaqueâ€￾ amber.

So did a chunk of crud block the oil passage of this rocker, and when the engine was turned off it relocated? Do slant six engines self heal? Was the car embarrassed to be ticking, and snapped out of it in time for the show with its peers? Any ideas anyone?

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Odd. I'd pull the rocker shaft and take off the rocker arms to see if you scored the shaft.

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Joshua

I'm thinking either a pebble in the hub cap/brake drum,gremlin tapping on the downstairs pipes,a grandchild doing something to iritate grandpaw(were either one giggling alot?)or someones dentures clicking Check what Joshua said.Good luck
Lloyd

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83 B-150 slant 6,4 speed. 79 B-300 360 pathfinder 4x4. 74 W-300 318 4x4 git-r-done 80 B-100 sl6,4speed

wjajr,

I vote for a piece of crud. I have had it happen with normal 10-30 Valvoline and 1806's. Now that I went to 0-30W Mobil 1, the engine is super quiet and never a sticky tick.

Hopefully the filter will catch it.

What gap does that mystery cam like?
and how much oil pressure were you seeing at the time?

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Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

Ted queries:

[quote]What gap does that mystery cam like? [/quote]

This month I have set intake at 0.012â€￾ and exhaust at 0.022â€￾. Had to move “in parkâ€￾ idle up to 1100 rpm, to prevent an occasional stall in gear idle. These settings yield about the best vacuum readings. The engine valve train is much quieter with these settings.

[quote] how much oil pressure were you seeing at the time?[/quote]

I don’t have an oil gage, just factory low pressure light, which indecently I discovered the other day that the electrical connection to it had become loose, and the light was not coming on during cranking. Note to self, install second light to indicate light failure…

A symptom that I failed to mention during that long narrative was; as the car accelerated that tick would increase in volume, than become quieter with foot off of the gas. I thought it all a bit odd. Most of this is not making much sense not unlike that show; X Files.

Josh:
[quote]Odd. I'd pull the rocker shaft and take off the rocker arms to see if you scored the shaft.[/quote]

Odd indeed, Josh, the circus (four kids aged 6 to 6 months!) will be moving to the in-law’s house later today to finish up their visit to Maine which will afford me some car time. I shall yank the shaft and inspect the suspect rocker area, and give it and the rocker a good cleaning. I recall several areas showed wear where the rockers ride the last time I had the shaft off.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

It's a stretch but....

My right front hubcap/full wheelcover starting tic-tic-ticking the other day....and it sounds somewhat like a lifter.

I pulled it off....and bent the tabs out a bit...and it stopped it.

The tabs on those wheelcovers get pushed in over time which makes for a loose hubcap.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

Rustyfords:

I got plenty of loose stuff, marbles etc., but luckily nothing related to wheels, trim rings fit nice & tight.

The sound was valve train related, frequency of tic paralleled engine rpm, and only one rocker was complaining.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Possible exhaust leak (tick)?

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Charrlie_S: Don’t think so. It was a metallic tic, not a phic, phic. The only spot that I can think of, and it is easy to check with a small tube to one’s ear, is where one of the header pipes pass’ over the top of the power steering box’s vertical adjusting bolt. Engine mounts allow enough movement for the header to come in contact with the steering box, and has made a flat spot on the bottom of that pipe. All’s quiet at that spot.

I’m going to drive it around a bit today now that the grand kids have headed over to their other grandparents for a week, and see if it will put on a second act. I’ll have my ear tube on hand this time, and a fresh charge on the phone...

Sure is quiet around here…

Charlie, I hope your wife is feeling better.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Doing better every day, thanks. Still needs to take it easy for awhile.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Josh:
[quote]Odd. I'd pull the rocker shaft and take off the rocker arms to see if you scored the shaft.[/quote]

Josh, this afternoon my oldest son and I decided to play red neck garage to kill a few hours before his flight back to the Sunshine State departed BIA. So we pulled the rocker shaft to inspect for scoring under #4 intake rocker arm. Some wear showing, but not any more than when I had the head all apart last spring. What we did see, and I vaguely remember seeing before, is some sort of widening of the contact surface of #4 rocker’s valve side. He observed that its adjuster was close to its limit of travel in the tightening direction. I don’t know if someone ground it down a bit, or if it is from a different sized engine.

I wonder if I should acquire a few spare rockers, as two or three others are within a thread of full adjustment in the same direction.

With headers I can tell if the front three or rear three have a slightly different rhythm from each other. The rear three cylinder’s do sound a bit rougher to my ear. So we performed a compression test, as I’m now suspecting a problem with #4 as the car dose not idle quite as smoothly as before.

June 2010 Compression test, cold engine: #1-#6:

140; 145; 145; 140; 145; 145.

Today’s compression test, hot engine:

140; 150; 150; 137; 140; 140.

Lash for today’s tests: E= 0.021â€￾ I= 0.012â€￾ while hot, engine off, checked in pairs. In other words I rolled the engine over by hand to three different positions, and read the clearances.

Lash for Juneâ€￾ test may have not been as even, as I set it while engine was running, and it won’t idle down to a nice smooth 400 rpm tick over, but instead rocks back & forth loping away at 500 or so rpm. Hard to get a nice fine adjustment with all that motion, and oil flinging around.

I can’t tell if something is going on with #4 intake or not. My cam has quite the overlap, and I suspect that a few thousands difference on a lash adjustment could make a few psi difference. The plugs all show color in the “good & bestâ€￾ zone per [url=http://4secondsflat.com/plug_chart.html]4secondsflat. [/url]


On another topic this engine has had a bit of a clunk-clunk sound at times, most often after a cold start right after engaging drive, and I have always thought it was the engine swaying back and forth on its mounts causing the # 3 header pipe to come in contact with the adjustment bolt on top of the power steering gear. There is little clearance between these two parts, and have not given it a second thought until today.

Today as the engine idled way down as if it were in gear with brakes applied I heard that deep clunk-clunk, not unlike a rod knock, a few times during a very slight throttle blip, and at the same time observed that the header pipe was not contacting the steering gear. My immediate thought was that the flex plate may not still be bolted tightly to the torque converter even though I used blue Loctite on the those bolts when installing a new converter. Second thought is a welded crack repair by previous owner, of the flex plate, has failed.

Any thoughts on this?

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Me quoting me: I’m two for two on this one:

I just finished checking the flex plate to torque converter bolts for tightness. Not my favorite project, hard to access some of the bolts with headers & exhaust pipes occupying most of the available space for wrenches, inspection plates & hands.

One bolt was out several turns, and had a crack passing through its hole in the flex plate. Its neighbor was also starting to loosen up, but still snug. The other two were still tight. So much for the blue Locktite I used on them five thousand miles ago, that turned out to be a helpful exercise. (I did clean & degrease the threads)

This is not good, will need a new flex plate, and will have to drop the transmission to install it. I’m now dreading this irksome task because I don’t have the proper rigging to lift the transmission, or a lift. It’s jack stands & McGyvered up floor jack contraptions, and than a trip or two to the bone crusher to recover…

I just tightened the bolts up for now, and the clunking seams to have stopped.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Good job on finding the problem. I have had numerous problems with torque converter bolts, just not on my cars... I preemptively switched out to a stick, no more torque converter issues

All you have to do is move your square yellow butt to Oregon and we can get that flexplate swapped in a jiffy!

~THOR~

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1984 D100 Shorty Custom
Certified Auto Appraiser - RevItUp Classic Appraisals
President - Cherry City Bombers CC
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Thanks.

~THOR~: Yup Thunderous One, two people would make that flex plate job a lot easer particularly if one of us was not geezer class.

As for a pilgrimage to the Great North Left Coast, I would enjoy that trip. Perhaps when I get my leaky windshield gasket replaced…


Sponge Bob Square Trunk

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

THOR has spent many an hour under the Hooptie! This geezer is thankful he's so close!

Speaking of the bone crusher, better get myself in for a bit of maintenance soon.

Linda has been trying to teach our grand daughter to drive this week. So far she's been afraid to actually start the car. (The Grand Daughter.) Perhaps next year?

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing